(text, un: dante)

[durante]

Good afternoon, Ximilia Station.

By now I've had some time to get accustomed to the situation here and what we're expected to be doing, but there's still a lot left unanswered. However, I don't want to wear someone out with too many questions, so I've decided to try something different. Anyone who responds to this post, I'll ask one question I have about life here, our missions, or our purpose.

Thank you in advance for helping out.

Comments

[deaddrop]

Potentially. We can leave whenever we want, but if you're determined to see things through, it could be a long time.

[drawsblood]

[ Joric doesn't mind the tone that comes through via text. His is always blunt. ]

Yes. Of those who wished to leave, we evacuated a great deal with the mages' use of portals.

[ To him, everyone who has magic is a mage, regardless of what they call themselves. ]

[softshoes]

Yes. That one was... difficult.

[Cathartic, even leading to necessary conversations in some cases, but too painful for him to ever wish it on all of them.]

But it is only as strange as being here to begin with. They can be scattered, broken. They can have their own wills. The orbs are beyond any power I could ever conceive, and about as dangerous, too.

[romancekiller]

It's more of the latter from my experience.

[durante]

They're putting a lot of faith in us to subdue that much power.

[durante]

We can leave, yes, but you aren't getting your regret changed if you leave before it's over. It is what it is.

Of course, I'm kind of surprised we can just leave if we want.

[durante]

Huh. I thought there might be something special we had to do to keep them happy.

[durante]

Glad to hear it.

[saving someone is better than saving no one at all.]

[deaddrop]

It is what it is—no half credit.

Almost makes you wonder if they're seeing how much work they can get out of us without having to come through in the end.

If one of us leaves, there's always someone else with a regret to come in and replace us.

[durante]

Fortunately, I was already told that this place moves more towards democracy. The last thing I want is to run headfirst into a mission and end up irritating everyone I'm supposed to be working with.

Thank you, though, for your words. I appreciate them. You sound like you've been at this for quite some time.

[there's more they could say, but with how much can be read on the network, they want to hold back. keep the impression people might be forming of them as capable.]

[coordination]

Irritation is bound to happen. But we deal well enough with not holding grudges and acting like petulant children about it.

You are right, though, I've been here since the first of this team was brought on board. That was over two years ago, now.

And if you have any additional questions, I'm always perfectly fine with being contacted or sought out.

[durante]

I'll certainly take you up on that. Perhaps in person, though, next time.

[to ask the things they don't necessarily want in the public eye.]

[durante]

Or a test of our commitment. Is it worth all the unknowns to change things?

[deaddrop]

It could be. They orbs haven't demonstrated themselves to be acting in good faith.

Hard to say what that might mean in the long run for us, though.

[coordination]

That's fine.

My room is [ 2-person room, x door down on the left here whatever ROOM LOCATION, GIVEN. ] But I've been spending a lot of my time, including today, in the training room.

[durante]

I'll probably come see you later, then.

[it's only after they've gotten off the network that they realize they forgot to ask what this person looks like, or how to know it's them. you know what. they're just going to go to the training room in an hour and hope for the best. at the very least, someone in there might be able to point the right direction.]

[drawsblood]

Yes. The crew tries to do good where we can. Of course the main goal is retrieving the orb, but on that mission some focused just on evacuation plans.

[cruelyethuman]

[Does it matter?, but this isn't the place for asking questions about the very nature of their work, about the ethics behind finding the orbs and bringing so much chaos together. Alone, they are powerful enough to shape a world, to create life or snuff it out completely.

Together?

They could turn back time, they could erode the fabric of what is real and they knew too much about every single orber on the station. They knew their hopes and dreams, their fears. Nightmares.]

We might never learn the answer to that question. All we know is, that to alter our initial deal comes at a great cost. And that not all of the orbs seem to want to be brought together.

[softshoes]

But then, there's the rub, isn't it?

Viveca and Degar, technically, have no authority over us. They have seniority, yes, and greater knowledge of the workings of the orbs through it, but they were summoned just as we were.

action~!

[coordination]

[ Sure enough, Yzak is still in the training room. Though the training he's doing isn't very intense - what he's mainly doing is a mix of exercises while his newly-set prosthetic right arm is healing. As well as getting a feel how some general actions feel with it: a pistol that he lifts, wrist rotating back and forth a few times, lowers back down to his side, and repeats. A slow swing of the arm backward as it handles a sword, and then a small swing forward.

He is very focused on what he's doing, so much so that he easily notices the sound of the door to the room sliding open. He pauses in his actions, glances over his shoulder to see who just entered, and—



Uh.


He's staring sorry. ]

[durante]

[they know they're being stared at, even as they're trying to act normal. and for a minute, they're just glancing around the room, feeling nerves rising in their stomach, trying to act casual before they form more proper words.]

< Excuse me... >

[the voice isn't a voice at all. the clock ticks, though the hands don't move. and the meaning is there, as surely as if there were words spoken, registered and placed directly into Yzak's mind.]

< I'm looking for Major Yzak Jule. >

[the network name. perhaps this person knows where to find them?

[coordination]

[ The unexpected flabbergast doubles when Yzak hears that voice in his mind, unique in that way that differs just the slightest bit from the earpieces. But it's something he'd grown accustomed to on his time with the Ximilia through Blue and his psionic abilities. Something so familiar yet he realizes upon hearing, feeling it like this now, it's been so long since he has.

Now there's a squeeze, brief but full, to his heart thrown into the mix, his expression nearly frozen in that state of confusion as the rest of that inquiry comes through to thankfully yank his focus to it so he can push the rest of it back rather than allowing it to stew.

Right. The network. The dante he'd just been speaking to.

He just wasn't expecting to come face to face with ... the face of a clock. And he makes an effort, does try to force away the stare he's giving them, it's obvious that even he's just become self-aware of it. ]

That's me.

[ He straightens himself up and properly turns to face them. ]

So you're ... Dante, then. Assuming the username is just your real one.

[locumstudentesquire]

...I guess contradictions are a bit chaotic in nature, if you think about it. So it fits the bill.

To return to your question: this is merely speculative on my part, but... I have wondered if 'undoing' a regret merely involves being transplanted into a different timeline. Swapped with another version of yourself.

/private./

[durante]

[thinking about that, they switch to direct communication.]

If we're listening to them to carry out the missions and retrieve the orbs, isn't that authority on its own? I'm afraid I don't understand.

[durante]

That'd be kind of rough on that other you who got swapped...